Ex-Columbia S&L; Executive Found Guilty of Tax Evasion

A former Columbia Savings & Loan executive has been convicted of tax evasion for failing to report $200,000 allegedly paid to him by an Orange County businessman accused of defrauding the Beverly Hills thrift of more than $11 million, federal prosecutors said.

A federal jury Thursday convicted Gilbert Fuentes, 59, of San Diego after a three-day trial. The former chief financial officer of Columbia faces up to five years in jail and a $250,000 fine.

Prosecutors said Fuentes received the money from Newport Beach businessman Michael Parker in return for keeping quiet about an alleged equipment leasing fraud for which Parker and another Columbia Savings officer are facing trial.

Parker is accused of paying $1.5 million in kickbacks to Jeffrey S. Worthy, a former Columbia financial planning director. Both have pleaded not guilty to charges including racketeering, money laundering, and bank and tax fraud.

“Once he had the ($200,000), Fuentes never reported the illegal kickbacks to Columbia or any criminal or regulatory authorities,” said Assistant U.S. Atty. James R. Asperger. “From a tax standpoint, whether it’s a settlement of business or legal disputes or hush money, it’s taxable.”

Parker was chairman of Parker North American Corp. in 1989 when the company--which has since filed for a bankruptcy reorganization--sold Columbia $166 million in leasing packages, in which Columbia bought office equipment such as computers and leased it back to users. Federal investigators claim that some of the leasing packages were bogus.

Fuentes’ attorney, federal public defender Dennis Landin, contended that the $200,000 was not “hush money” as the government suggested. He said the jury convicted Fuentes solely on his failure to pay taxes on $33,000 in salary he received from PNA Investment.